Combining World, Story and Mechanics in The Splitting | Stav Goldstein

Combining World, Story and Gameplay in

Stav Goldstein

Game DesignArtDevelopment

Music and Sound

Stav Goldstein Assaf Halevi

What does it mean?

Combining World, Story and Gameplay

Combining World, Story and Gameplay

Story Gameplay

World

Braid / Jonathan Blow

Papers Please / Lucas Pope

How does using the game medium benefit the experience I want to create?

Combining World, Story and Gameplay

An Episodic Mystery Adventure Game

My Game

Daniel wakes up one morning to find out his reflection in the mirror is gone,Allowing him to pass through the mirror into an almost identical mirrored world.

The Story

The World

Urban fantasy - Our world, but with additional “magical” elements.

● There is a parallel world, which is a mirror image of this one.

● Mirrors are the portals, but our reflections keep us from crossing.

● When a person is split from their reflection, they can pass through.

● The gameplay is based on understanding the laws of the world and using them to your advantage.

● The laws reveal themselves gradually, and create obstacles as well as ways to solve problems.

The Gameplay

The Puzzles

The Puzzles

The Puzzles

● The puzzles help the player practice and get more acquainted with the world’s laws.

● Each element in the world has a potential to be used in a puzzle. Every new law we discover about the world is actually a new mechanic.

World and Gameplay

World and Gameplay

● The story is one of many potential stories that could happen in the game’s world. I chose the ones I found most interesting.

● I used the characters relationships with their reflections, as a way to explore people’s relationships with themselves, and the game’s world allowed me to do that .

World and Story

Story and Gameplay

● I chose a main story that contained exploration, with is compatible with the adventure genre.

● A mechanical element that we encounter in the game, can later become a narrative element.

Story and Gameplay

Story and Mechanics

● Unique way to tell the story

● Adds depth

● Creates a more wholesome experience

Combining World, Story and Gameplay

Thank you!

● Successfully combining World, Story and mechanics can benefit the game by making it unique, adding depth to the story and providing an overall wholesome experience.

● Each game can approach the subject differently, and finding new ways to combine these elements is part of creating a unique game.

● In “The Splitting”, I tried to create strong links between the world, the story and the gameplay, which all in turn affected and shaped each other.

Summary